Barack Obama mentions Natallia Radzina in statement on May 3

The President of the United States Barack Obama called journalist Natallia Radzina's forced exile from Belarus an example of violating democratic principles by the authorities.

“Threats and harassment, like that endured by Ecuadorian journalist Cesar Ricaurte and exiled Belarusian democratic activist Natalya Radzina, and indirect censorship, including through restrictions on freedom of movement like those imposed on Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, continue to have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and the press,” Obama noted in a statement on the World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

“We call on all governments to protect the ability of journalists, bloggers, and dissidents to write and speak freely without retribution and to stop the use of travel bans and other indirect forms of censorship to suppress the exercise of these universal rights,” the US President stressed in the statement.

Journalist Natallia Radzina is the editor-in-chief of the pro-opposition website charter97.org currently working in Lithuania, where Radzina received political asylum. She was involved in a criminal case over mass disorders in Minsk on December 19, 2010. Released on her own recognizance after  a month and a half in the KGB jail, she had to live in Kobryn (the Brest region). She managed to escape from Belarus later.

Natallia Radzina celebrated her birthday on May 3, BelaPAN reports.